It was a surprising when Savvy K found FAT caterpillars in our garden. Being her delightful self then at 12 years-old, she asked "Can we keep them and watch them grow into butterflies?"
I was surprised that these caterpillars had their own food preferences.
They only ate the leaves of my desert rose (Adenium obesum).
I had three pots of this plant and caterpillars had invaded all three, 
munching happily.
We collected 10 Katy Kims, as what Savvy K called them and
placed them into plastic containers. Oh my, they had voracious appetites! They refused to eat any other leaves and our desert roses were almost bald.
We had to ask for "desert rose leaf donations" from neighbours and my colleagues at work.
They just chomp through the leaves like razor blades.
Savvy K was very diligent and cleaned their "homes." They "pooped" a real lot, but thankfully as dried pellets, so house keeping was not a problem.
Every one had names - "Hello Yellow, Momok Jin, Smoky BBQ, Ali Baba,
Little Bean, Tiny Boo, Lil Jinx, Plump Daisy and Bloated Submarine."
They started their pupa stage when they stopped their "cat" walk and turned a hardy brown. They looked like bullets with eyes. We placed the containers in a safe corner and left the lids opened.
Every so often, the pupae would do a "jiggle" or "shake." Savvy K was sad she never saw the butterflies, only the pupa cases remained in the mornings. During the nights or early mornings when it was cool, they completed their final stage of metamorphosis and flew away through the opened windows. Savvy K did a GOOD job. ALL the Katy Kims successfully transformed into butterflies.
Boey's butterfly inspired hand-painted T-shirt.
AH HA, I did find one butterfly in the morning
resting on the jasmine shrub.
Red wine ALLAMANDER
